Remember when you dreamed of becoming a rock star? Sure, you
played great air guitar in your bedroom, but the fantasy pretty
much started and ended there. Now your wanna-be dreams center on
becoming a different kind of star: a wealthy entrepreneur with a
fast-track tech company that will last longer than the leftovers
from the grand-opening party. Frankly, that may be as likely as
becoming the warm-up act for Madonna, according to Rob Ryan,
founder of Entrepreneur America, a Hamilton, Montana-based business
development program for select entrepreneurs, and author of
Entre-preneur America: Lessons From Inside Rob Ryan's High
-Tech Boot Camp (Harper- Business). He says only a small percentage
of aspiring entrepreneurs have the combination of heart and brains
so essential for success in the brutal high-tech industry.

Ryan reveals the characteristics of the most common types of
wanna-bes:

Quickies have lots of get-rich-quick business models with
no clear-cut application or value to customers.Wonderful, wacky MBAs love charts and market reports but
overlook crucial data, such as who their customers are.Send moneys believe once they have a big VC check, the rest
will automatically fall into place.Dreamers love to gas about their grand ideas but are unable
to make the all-important leap to reality.One-stripe zebras have a single-function product with a
market too narrow to support a company.Technoids are smart about technology but clueless about
running a business.Guts & brains have done all their homework and have the
intestinal fortitude and IQ points to make it in the dog-eat-dog
business world. They're willing to eat beans and rice and face
rejection day in and day out during their businesses' difficult
early stages. Few entrepreneurs are capable of transforming into
Guts & Brains, Ryan says. The key to making the big leap is
doing what so few others manage to do: Use common sense. Offer a
product or service of value; talk to customers about it; don't
try to raise capital before you've laid a strong foundation.
And don't spend any money before you've earned it. Says
Ryan, "Ninety-nine percent of the people I see make the same
simple mistakes over and over.'

Wanna Be Worksheet

Is your company "vision' intergalactic in
scope-vague and unable to be patented?

Are you afraid customers will steal your idea?

Do you have to explain your business idea in excruciating
detail so others understand it?

If you answered yes to these, you're a "Dreamer,"
and your prospects for real success are dim.

Does your management team include experienced engineers and a
skilled marketer?

Does your team have years of experience in the chosen
field?

Are you testing your business hypothesis on potential
customers?

Has your team built a demo or prototype to show customers?

If you answered yes to these, congratulations! You're a
"Guts & Brains." Now make it happen!

Pamela Rohland writes about the joys and tribulations of
entrepreneurship for a variety of regional and national business
publications.